Minami-ke Episode 04
performs his characteristic maniacal laugh.]] "The Pattern of Love" "Koi Moyō" (恋もよう) Airdate: 28 October 2007 Internal Date: Sometime in October 2007, after the 14th. Previous Episode → 03 Next Episode → 05 Synopsis This episode introduces Hayami, Hosaka, Riko,Before this, Riko can be seen in the background of several scenes in Episode Three, such as this. She can even be seen once in Episode One, right here and Takeru. Takeru visits the Minami Residence, nursing a wounded heart. Riko has a crush on Fujioka, but is frustrated by his seeming relationship with Kana. Kana and Chiaki play a strange video game. Meanwhile, Hosaka imagines what it would be like to be a part of the Minami Family. Segment One doesn't really think anything of Chiaki's privacy.]] 's reaction upon getting a call from his girlfriend.]] [Manga]The first to arrive home, Chiaki encounters Takeru sitting in front of their household door, looking pathetic and dejected. She takes him inside. Moments later, Kana arrives and, spotting Takeru, immediately confronts Chiaki, who happens to be changing in her room. Kana then points out that she had deliberately instructed Chiaki not to allow him into the house.Kana (02:44): "Bad things always happen when he comes here. I told you not to let him in!"Beginning a pattern of behavior whereby Kana consistently treats Takeru poorly and seems to resent his presence, despite him being the likely source of their family income, or at least the deliverer of such. Chiaki says that she made an exception, since his girlfriend had just dumped him. After lamenting Takeru lamenting a girlfriend he was clearly unworthy of, she agrees with Chiaki that they should try to take care of the now-weeping Takeru. However, Chiaki says they are unable to be of much help in comforting him, and they should just watch over him "warmly" and show him hospitality until Haruka returns home.A wordplay is used here between "hospitality" and "warmth", since in Japanese the former word contains the latter. This wordplay comes up again in Minami-ke: Okaeri Episode 11#Segment Three. Kana's obsession with hospitality is well-documented, for instance also occurring in Minami-ke: Okawari Episode 03#Segment Two When Haruka arrives home, she asks for the reason for Takeru's sudden visit, and is provided with the answer by her sisters. Haruka proceeds to immediately vacate the area by going to prepare dinner.Kana and Chiaki continue to place great faith in Haruka when it comes to handling "adult" matters, even when it repeatedly made clear that she is just as innocent as they are. Kana is the first to react by also escaping, saying that she will go help Haruka. Chiaki tries to stop her by grabbing her pant-leg, but this ends poorly when she ends up pulling Kana's pants off instead.This joke, used in the corresponding Minami-ke Chapter 007, is used again in Minami-ke Episode 09#Segment Two, even though it does not appear in the corresponding Minami-ke Chapter 032The sequence where Haruka avoids dealing with Takeru and Kana tries to follow. Kana's efforts to help predictably get her thrown out of the kitchen. In the meal that follows, Takeru compliments Haruka's cooking and there is light banter as Kana protests that she helped too, Takeru mentions that he had been worried about that, and Kana tells him to go home.Kana (05:32) (referring to the food): "I helped too." Takeru: "That's what I was worried about..." Kana: "What was that? If you are well enough to insult someone, then go home!" All this is interrupted, however, when Takeru receives a phone call from his girlfriend, Reiko, saying she wants to talk. After he leaves hurriedly, Kana reiterates to Chiaki that she never let Takeru in the house again. Light echoes here of a similar conversation in the previous episode The next day, Chiaki again finds Takeru in front of their door, attempted reconciliation having failed. Segment Two reacts upon seeing Fujioka.]] to leave.]] [Manga]Riko is introduced by shown blushing while looking lovingly at Fujioka, establishing immediately Riko's most salient feature. She is interrupted by Keiko, who asks her what's wrong. Riko says nothing but when Keiko tries to walk away, Riko notices something and pulls her back by the skirt. Riko points out that Kana and Fujioka seem to have been awfully close lately and asks if they are a couple Keiko says that they are not, but then Kana and Fujioka are seen in the background discussing Fujioka's recent visit to the Minami Residence to "have fun". Riko despairs, but Keiko insists that there is nothing wrong with that kind of behavior. Riko then disparages Keiko, calling her a kindergartner for not knowing the implications of such behavior and then dropping Keiko's honorific entirely.Riko (08:08): "Just now, they were talking about going over to have fun..." Keiko: "Well, it's not unusual for friends to have fun at each other's houses" Riko: "Going over to have fun means something entirely different for middle schoolers! Keiko, what grade are you in?"The honorific is only dropped among friends and family or as an indication of great disrespect. Keiko is at this point not yet Riko's friend. Kana is then heard asking Fujioka about the curry she cooked for their mealMinami-ke Episode 03#Segment Four causing Riko to despair again. Fujioka insists it is delicious and there is a short sequence where Kana considers how strange it is how everyone thinks her cooking is horrible while Fujioka thinks to himself that anything Kana cooks is delicious by default.Fujioka (08:41): "The curry you made was really delicious!" Riko, in background: "Curry?!?" Kana:"Th-that's right! I'm sort of good at cooking, right?" Fujioka:"Yeah, you really are." Riko, despairing in background: "Home cooking..." Kana, thinking: "Wait, doesn't that mean my food is awesome?" Fujioka, thinking: "Anything that Minami makes would taste great!"Riko grabs Keiko's skirt and insists to her that this means they must be lovers, but then Kana is heard telling Fujioka about how Chiaki repeatedly asks her when Fujioka will visit again. For Riko this is the last straw, and she sits down, losing all hope, concluding that this means Fujioka has been openly accepted by Kana's family as a lover. Keiko walks away again and this time is able to escape Riko's attempt to grab her skirt. In the middle of class, Riko suddenly concludes that she can still achieve her goal by becoming friends with Kana and thereby getting closer to Fujioka. She drags Keiko by the skirt and forces her to introduce Riko to Kana. Kana responds by saying that she already knows who Riko is and walking on. Riko grabs her pigtail and Kana grabs Riko's hair. Riko demands she let go, Kana tells Riko to let go first and Keiko tries to sneak out, only to have her skirt grabbed by both Kana and Riko.Keiko suffering the final humiliation of having her skirt grabbed by both Kana and Riko at once. Though it is not explicitly shown, Riko becomes Kana and Keiko's friend after this. Segment Three It is a rainy day, and Chiaki and Kana read a textbook and manga, respectively. Kana asks Chiaki if she wants pudding, clearly desiring Chiaki to go out and buy pudding. Chiaki says she doesn't want any, telling Kana to buy some herself. Chiaki says she is fine as long as she has her soda. Chiaki then notices that her soda can is empty and, upon checking the fridge, that they are completely. Upon returning to the living room, the two of them agree that they will have a competition to decide who must go to the convenience store. Chiaki confidently allows Kana to choose what game they will, arrogantly asserting that she will win no matter what.With good justification. Not even challenging her assertion, Kana says they will duel using a new video game she borrowed from Keiko. Because it is new and of the untried romance genre, it will be a fair fight. The game is, of course, the Sensei and Ninomiya-kun video game. What follows is an extensive parody of various video games, all with Sensei and Ninomiya as protagonists. Confused by the nonsensical multi-genre nature of the game, they are nonetheless drawn in and refuse to stop playing, despite the repeated "Bad End"s cause by Kana's incompetence. When Haruka arrives home, having purchased pudding and soda, she finds the two of them still engrossed in their game.The entire Sensei and Ninomiya-kun video game playthrough. Segment Four wipe his sweat.]] [Manga]In PE, Haruka overwhelms Atsuko with a powerful volleyball spike. Maki then asks why Haruka refuses to join the volleyball club and Atsuko explains that she has "kids" at home she needs to take care of. Maki misinterprets this as her having children. Meanwhile, Hayami and Hosaka watch her carefully, with Hayami lamenting being unable to get Haruka to join the volleyball club, of which she is the girls' captain. Hosaka catches the hint, and vows to Hayami that he will get Haruka to join. At lunch, Maki tells Atsuko and Haruka about how disgusting she finds Hosaka, introducing for the first time her catchphrase "Kimochi Warui" (roughly: How disgusting!). Atsuko attempts to defend him, but receives for her trouble an accusation that she likes Hosaka.Along with other things, this is one of the bases for speculation that Atsuko really does like him. See Character Pairings (Minami-ke)#Atsuko's Slight Crush on Hosaka. Hosaka appears out of nowhere and asks for a moment of Maki's time. Maki asks him if he heard her insulting him, but he doesn't know what she is talking about, prompting her to give the bald-faced lie that they were talking about how cool he is. Hosaka takes this at face value and praises her for already helping him to recruit Haruka to the volleyball team.Maki (16:11): "Er...Hosaka-senpai, could you possibly have heard what we were saying?" Hosaka: "Hear what?" Maki: "We were talking about how cool Hosaka-senpai from the volleyball team is!" Hosaka: "Oh! Is that so? That's my Maki! Already helping me to recruit Haruka to the volleyball team!" It is then that it becomes apparent that Hosaka has corrupted Hayami's original directive, and is now seeking to get her to be manager of the boy's volleyball team, so that she may wipe his sweat and fulfill what appears to be a strange fetish of his.Which strangely only rarely comes up again after this episode. Hosaka then has one of his trademark fantasies of Haruka doing exactly that, beginning to laugh manically.Hosaka's first fantasy. Disgusted by Hosaka's behavior, Maki decides she must dissuade Hosaka somehow, and then realizes that the existence of Haruka's "children" is the perfect excuse to give. Hosaka, like Maki, believes it immediately. Hosaka then has a vivid hallucination of what life in the Minami household must be like, getting their personalities and gender, though not their ages, surprisingly correct.Hosaka's second fantasy. Hosaka then has a partial nervous breakdown, causing him to sweat profusely, causing Haruka to wipe his sweat with a handkerchief. He is, however, too engrossed in his own fantasy to notice. Segment Five After Haruka goes home for the afternoonThere is an easter egg buried in this scene, apparent from viewing this picture. Haruka's bag has attached accessories of her two sisters., the volleyball club is at practice. Hosaka tries to get Maki and Atsuko's attention, which for him is an exercise in smiling brightly and flicking his hair. They eventually realize he wants to talk to them. Outside the gym, Hosaka asks them how many kids Haruka has. Atsuko says two and tries to correct the record about Haruka's "children", who are of course actually sisters, but is too timid to force it through.Consistent with the way she is ignored in Minami-ke Episode 02#Segment One until she yells. Hosaka then declares that he finally understands the secret to Haruka's charm, namely that she has kids. Maki and Atsuko try to sneak away, but Hosaka queries them about what her "kids" look like. Neither of them have, but Atsuko comments that Haruka said they were "cute".At this point, it seems that Maki and Atsuko are only recent friends of Haruka. It is unclear when Maki gets disabused of this notion of Haruka having kids instead of sisters, but she already knows by the very next episode, when Haruka refers to her sisters, without any surprise on Maki's part and Atsuko and Maki even meet them. This however, creates a serious chronological problem, as it can be deduced from internal calendars that episode five occurs in July 2007 and four in October 2007. In the manga, the distance is only between chapters eight and sixteen. With regards to Hosaka, he is never shown mentioning or indirectly knowing about Haruka's sisters. For whatever it's worth, the issue of Haruka's "kids" does not come up again after season one, and after this episode only in Hosaka's fantasies, whose details, it must be remembered, are anime-original. See also Minami-ke Chronology They attempt to sneak back again, but then Hosaka tells them to wait, and comments that he must learn to get along with her children. He then imagines the Minami household again, only this time with him involved, and again involving his strange fetish for getting his sweat wiped.Hosaka's third fantasy.Kana (20:53), in Hosaka's fantasy: "Hand over the presents!" Chiaki: "Please give us the presents.", Hosaka, laughing: "Aren't you supposed to say 'Welcome Home' first, my little angels?" Haruka: "Welcome home, dear." Hosaka: "I am home, Haruka." Haruka, wiping Hosaka's sweat: "You sweated a lot today also, didn't you?" Hosaka: "Yeah, at least three liters." He then promises loudly to be the best father, and demands they call him "Papa".Hosaka (21:47): "Don't call me senpai!" Atsuko: "Then, what..." Hosaka: "Call me Papa" Maki: "Kimochi warui." Meanwhile, Haruka arrives home, and Kana demands food while Chiaki welcomes her home, the first eerily echoing Hosaka's second fantasy. Manner of Adaptation Except for the original sections, adaptation was very faithful to the manga chapters, except for the addition of elaborate animated versions of Hosaka's fantasies. Fan Reaction Reactions to this episode were very positive, with particular plaudits for the early concealed fan service, the parody-filled video game scene, and the new character of Hosaka, who would quickly become a fan favorite. Referbacks Notes Trivia Cultural References Unanswered Questions Memorable Moments Quotes Category:Episode Category:Minami-ke Season 1